Chapter 19: The Change in the world – First Half

— A Week Later – Green Bamboo City —

During this time of peace and quiet in the Azure River Province, a change was happening within the divination industry.

The Green Bamboo City, the largest city in the Green Bamboo Prefecture of the Azure River Province, had a population of about 10 million. This number sounded large, but considering the vastness of the world, many times larger than Earth, the city could only be considered the main city of the prefecture, still not as large as the capital city of the Azure River Province.

On a small commercial street stood a third-rate sect called Auspicious Omen Pavilion. This sect specialized in divination, but they were not the type to produce heaven-shaking prophecies or dare to reveal any heavenly secrets.

After all, in this world, the heavens were real and powerful. They could actually become angry and punish anyone who dared to reveal their secrets, whether through cultivation tribulation or sudden heavenly punishment descending upon the earth.

Thus, the sect could only help wealthy mortals or weak cultivators in their cultivation. The weaker a person was, the less likely their destiny would be entangled with world-changing heavenly secrets.

Shi Zhun, the head of the Auspicious Omen Pavilion, was sleeping on his desk with a divination scroll covering his eyes as he leaned back in his chair, waiting for a customer.

Nearby, a teenage disciple sighed while cleaning the bookshelves.

“Master, please wake up. We need to earn more spirit stones. Today is the due date for this building’s rent. If we don’t pay, we might be evicted and forced to wander the streets again,” the disciple said in a tired tone.

“Be quiet, Jingsuan. Can’t you see your master is in the middle of meditation? Last night, I calculated our sect’s fortune. It says fortune will come to us today,” the man reclining on the chair said lazily from beneath the scroll.

“Yeah… right, master. Is it the fortune amidst disaster that you calculated? Or is it a fortune that turns into disaster?” the disciple asked flatly, as if stating a fact.

“Such doubt. Do you not believe in your master anymore, Jingsuan?” the master replied in a lazy tone. He lifted the divination scroll from his face, revealing the suave but slightly aged face of a man with a thin mustache.

If Wei Chen were here, he would surely call this man an “old dandy type” character.

“If I didn’t believe in you, I would have already left with the senior brothers and sisters long ago, master. I wouldn’t still be here nagging you every day,” the disciple said in a bland, matter-of-fact tone.

And it was true. His master’s abilities were real and accurate, but only when predicting misfortune. Calamities, karmic retribution, disastrous destinies—those were his specialty.

As for good fortune? He had never once predicted it correctly. No, it would be more accurate to say that whenever he predicted good fortune, the opposite would always happen. He could not even glimpse the most mundane auspicious destinies.

Even in something as simple as a game of rock-paper-scissors, he would always lose.

That was why no one came here to seek his predictions. People wanted auspicious fortunes, not disasters.

Hearing his disciple’s words was like a dagger to the heart, but it was the truth. He could not retort or scold his last disciple.

After all, if Jingsuan ever grew angry and ran away too, there would be no one left to handle his food or the daily operations of the sect.

At that moment, a group of cultivators suddenly stormed into the shopfront. Yes, shopfront. The sect was so small it could barely be called more than a single courtyard.

The faces of the cultivators looked grim, as though they were searching for an enemy hiding within.

“Where is he!? Find him!”

Bam!

The master immediately fell to the ground as the cultivators barged in, all his past misdeeds flashing through his mind—those times when he had secretly slipped away to swindle someone with his divinations.

“Master! Did you sneak out of the sect and dupe someone again!?” the disciple shouted angrily.

“Hey! I did not! This time I’m innocent!”

“This time!? Master! You—!” Jingsuan pointed accusingly at him.

“Oh no! My damn mouth!” the master cursed under his breath.

“You! Are you the diviner who is frighteningly accurate at predicting disasters and calamities!?” one of the cultivators, clearly stronger than the master, demanded while pointing at him.

The master glanced at his disciple. In situations like this, Jingsuan usually stepped in to help.

Sigh…

Jingsuan sighed, then walked toward his master. Even though he was stronger than his master in cultivation realm, he was only at Foundation Establishment and could not fight them. He could only try to persuade the intruders and buy time for his master to escape.

“Respectable seniors, please calm down first. My master may be at fault…”

“Hey! I told you, I’m innocent!” the master protested, but his disciple ignored him.

Seeing the disciple trying to persuade them in this manner, the cultivators exchanged confused looks with one another.

At that moment, a young man in a luxurious blue robe entered, holding a sword still sheathed.

“I apologize for my people. This may be a misunderstanding,” the young man said with a smile, cupping his fist toward the master and disciple.

“In fact, we are here specifically to hire you, the master of the Auspicious Omen Pavilion, to conduct a divination for our sect, the Heavenly Sword Sect, regarding several new secret realms we have just discovered,” said the man holding the sword.

“Huh?”

“Ha?”

Both master and disciple were stunned. They never expected to hear such words from anyone other than clueless mortals.

No, even mortals gave this place a wide berth when walking past, as though afraid they would become unlucky if they came too close.

— A Day Later —

In the midst of the wilderness, both Shi Zhun, the master of the Auspicious Omen Hall, and his disciple Li Jingsuan had been brought here by the Heavenly Sword Sect via a flying ark.

It must be said that this was their first time having the opportunity to board a flying ark. The experience was unforgettable since their cultivation was too low to fly on flying artifacts themselves.

In front of the secret realm entrance, a group from the Heavenly Sword Sect had set up camp, guarding the entrance to prevent other forces from entering.

The people of the Heavenly Sword Sect escorted Shi Zhun and Li Jingsuan to the front of the entrance.

The same Heavenly Sword Sect disciple in the blue robe politely addressed the master.

“Please help us predict whether this secret realm is a scam realm or not,” the disciple in blue said.

“Huh? Scam realm?” Shi Zhun looked confused.

At this moment, Li Jingsuan remembered that a week ago a strange screen had appeared in the city square. The content of that screen was about secret realms.

The term scam realm was coined by Wei Chen. It referred to a realm that pretended to be a treasure-filled secret realm but was, in truth, a trap created to lure people into trials so that the realm’s creator could take over the bodies of those who passed.

“Master, do you remember that strange screen which appeared in the city square? The scam realm refers to that,” Li Jingsuan reminded his master of the content from Wei Chen’s stream.

“Oh, I see… But… are you sure you don’t want me to predict something auspicious instead?” Shi Zhun asked the disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect.

“No, Master Shi Zhun. We urge you to focus only on whether this realm is a scam realm and how dangerous it is. That is all we need. We have heard that you are very accurate when it comes to predicting disasters and calamities,” the disciple in blue explained.

“O… oh! I understand.” Shi Zhun nodded, letting out a sigh before beginning his divination ritual.

He used his divination scroll, the only reliable artifact in his possession, and combined it with his innate talent. After the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, the prediction was complete.

“Yes. This realm is a scam realm, and it is very dangerous. The one who created this realm is a blood demon who craves blood. His body was destroyed by heavenly tribulation when he attempted to break through to the Great Ascension Realm. I could not see everything, but inside this place is like a death trap that will drain the blood of anyone who enters. He has nearly succeeded in reconstructing his body, and once he does, the entire Azure River Province will fall into chaos!” Shi Zhun declared, as though he had seen the future with his own eyes.

His complexion paled, for he had used all of his strength to glimpse into the future. Because he was near the entrance, he had been able to see more than usual, and his talent for foretelling disasters and calamities amplified the result.

“You can tell that much?” the disciple in blue asked in surprise. Normally, most diviners could only see bits and pieces, and then they would have to interpret the rest.

“You do not need to doubt my master when it comes to predicting disasters and calamities, respectable senior. If he claims to be second in this field, no one would dare claim to be first,” Li Jingsuan reassured firmly.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep